By Lauren Mills

The restructuring by BC Partners of its top-of-the-market investment in UK estate agency Foxtons–known for its aggressive selling tactics–is the second major restructuring the UK buyout firm has undertaken in the last few months, writes Toby Lewis at Financial News.

However, despite the high profile difficulties at Foxtons, BC Partners remains one of the most highly regarded buyout firms by investors in the asset class. Halfway through last year it wrote back its €5.8 billion ($8.3billion) 2005 fund to par, valuing its investments at their initial purchase price. This is in marked contrast to most other firms that continue to hold investments from that era at below their initial purchase price.

Andrew Newington, a managing partner at BC Partners, said all the firms funds are currently held above par. According to research by Private Equity News, a sister publication of Financial News, BC Partners was last year the second most active investor in the year since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, deploying about €1.5bn in equity.

The firm is considering floating a number of companies including chemical company Brenntag, travel booking company Amadeus IT Group, and healthcare group Medica.

But the Foxtons restructuring adds to a number of high profile investment difficulties the firm has experienced in the last three years. [Read the full story here.]

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